Lanners of Wakefield built a large number of centrally-planned tent-roofed churches in the 1970s, of which St Margaret’s is a typical example.

Grahame Park is a miniature new town built on land previously occupied by Hendon Aerodrome, with public housing by the GLC at the centre and private and Ministry of Defence housing around the fringe. The development was begun in 1969 and two-thirds completed by 1975. The parish of St Margaret Clitherow was erected in 1970 (the year of the saint’s canonisation) and the present church built in 1973 by Fr Bernard Mortimer. It was consecrated on 14 November 1998. The design is virtually identical to that of Mary Immaculate and St Gregory in Barnet, built in 1977 (qv).

Description

The church consists essentially of two intersecting tent-roofed decagons of unequal size with a flat-roofed single-storey narthex on three sides of the lower decagon and flat-roofed sacristies on three sides of the taller decagon, linking to the presbytery on one side and the hall on the other. The space between the two roofs of the church is glazed. The external walls are faced with brown brick laid in Flemish bond with large rectangular small-paned windows of painted timber, the tent roofs are covered in brick tiles.  The church, presbytery and hall were built at the same time and appear to be little altered. The interior was not inspected.

Heritage Details